Environmental loan facility to Ukraine

On 2 July, the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and the State Export-Import Bank of Ukraine (Ukreximbank) signed a 8-year-maturity loan facility totalling USD 50 million for environmental projects. This is the first loan agreement NIB has entered into in Ukraine.

The loan facility will be used for financing, in particular, environmental projects in the field of energy efficiency, promoting the reduction of harmful emissions affecting NIB's member countries.

"Ukraine uses 3.3 times more energy to produce one unit of its GDP than the average in the enlarged EU. We believe that Ukraine's manufacturing and construction sectors will largely benefit from the energy saving," says Johnny Åkerholm, President and CEO of NIB.

"The loan agreement with the Nordic Investment Bank will help optimise the energy consumption at Ukrainian enterprises, have positive impact on their production capacity and, what is most important, protect the environment," says Viktor Kapustin, Chairman of the Board of Ukreximbank.

NIB and Ukreximbank signed a memorandum of understanding in autumn 2006. Ukreximbank, a state-owned joint stock company established in January 1992, is one of the largest credit institutions in Ukraine.

NIB is a multilateral financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor's and Moody's.

For further information, please contact
Ms Harriet Wingren-Häggblom, Senior Manager Lending, at +358 10 618 0522,  
Mr Dimitrijs Alehins, Communications Specialist, at +358 10 618 0296,